Nurture affects gender differences in spatial abilities. In this study, we use a large-scale incentivized experiment with nearly 1,300 participants to show that the gender gap in spatial abilities, measured by time to solve a puzzle, disappears when we move from a patrilineal society to an adjoining matrilineal society. (Mainstream audience summary at Ars Technica.)

(Warning: screenshots of video game violence.) “Did she just money-shot herself with his neck-blood?”: And in a patriarchal society where masculine = good, strong and feminine = bad, weak these women (made by dudes for dudes) exist as tokens of counterfeit empowerment because they enact male fantasies of power. This is why the femme fatale, despite having no narrative agency, is sold as a strong character.

The Luxury of “Reasonable”: But there’s a reason [Brandon] Sanderson can be so reasonable [about his faith-based anti-homosexuality beliefs]… He’s not being told he can’t bring his boyfriend to his own prom. Agents/editors aren’t rejecting his work because he wrote about LGBT characters. He’s not being denied basic rights…

Different takes on rape and negative portrayals of women in George R.R. Martin’s fiction (meta discussion, some satirical, not graphic):

Feminist Media Criticism, George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire, And That Sady Doyle Piece: Alyssa Rosenberg criticises Sady Doyle’s take, in particular that she reads it as coming close to stating that no artistic depiction of sexual violence is acceptable, and that the anti-geek tone is harmful. Now, sexism is more entrenched and more broadly impactful than disdain for nerds. But that doesn’t actually mean that these kinds of statements are useful or clever when they’re deployed by feminists against nerds…

So seriously, why aren’t there more women in science?: Yes, the perennial question, but there are some brief interviews with some leading women scientists: Cathy Foley, CSIRO division chief; Suzanne Cory, Australian Academy of Science President; Mahananda Dasgupta professor in ANU Department of Nuclear Physics and others.

You can suggest links for future linkspams in comments here, or by using the “geekfeminism” tag on delicious, freelish.us or pinboard.in or the “#geekfeminism” tag on Twitter. Please note that we tend to stick to publishing recent links (from the last month or so).